A Brief History of Livinwondr

Published: April 30, 2016

We would like to share with you a brief history of Livinwondr. The project started out in 2002 by Hung V. Tran and Halsey Rodman, when the two artists were housemates living in Los Angeles. They both wanted to created a portable and transformative public platform where people can contribute and curate art. The platform also host film screenings, live music, performances, and workshops. The project was titled, "Stars In Your Eyes."

(3D Sketch by Halsey Rodman - 2002)

That same year in 2002, Halsey Rodman got accepted to Columbia University for his Master in Fine Art so he left Los Angeles for New York City. In NYC, Halsey wanted to launch "Stars In Your Eyes," and have it exhibited in public places in NYC and at Desert Test Site in Joshua Tree, but due to the two artists busy schedule the project was never realized. A few years later, in 2008, Garrick Imatani, artist and professor from Portland, Oregan, wanted to jump start "Stars In Your Eyes" again and contributed some models and designs for it.

(Garrick Imatani Model - 2008)

The three artists, Halsey Rodman, Garrick Imatani, and Hung V. Tran continued to share ideas about "Stars In Your Eyes," over the course of 8-10 years but due to the lack of fundings and the long distance relationship between the three artists (New York City, Portland Oregan, and Los Angeles) the collaboration never happened. Through the years of their conversations and sharing of ideas, each artist took a different approach to the project and created their own version of "tranformative public platform through collaborations." We at Livinwondr want to thank Halsey Rodman and Garrick Imatani for their contribution and collaboration throughout the years.

The initial idea for Livinwondr started in 2013. We started in Vietnam with some earlier designs from Halsey Rodman and Garrick Imatani.

(Concept Sketch by Hung V. Tran - 2013)

Inspired by some of Hung V. Tran earlier public project, Livinwondr developed into it's own being.